Eye-feeding device.



W L. CURTIS. EYE FEEDING DEVICE.

APPLIOATION FILED JAN-18, 1909.

' Patented May 5, 1914.

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W. L. CURTIS.

EYE FEEDING DEVICE.

APPLIOATION FILED JAN. 18, 1909.

1,095,193, Patented May 5, 1914.

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um) TED TA PATENT OFFICE":

WALTER L. CURTIS; or woncns'ma, massacnusnr'rs, IASSIGNGR To an none no PENNSYLVANIA.

AND EYE COMPANY, or rmmmnmnm, PENNSYLVANIA, a com'omnonorf EYE-FEEDING DEVICE.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WALTER L. CURTIS, a citizen. of the United States, residing at Worcester, in the county of Worcester and- State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Eye-Feeding Device, of-

which the following is a specification.

- to provide a construction in which the eyes or other articles can be placed in the hopper in bulk without special reference to the way in which they are placed thereln or the quantity, and which will operate, to dis-;

charge the articles in' a predetermined position so as to be received by a series of guides without necessitating operation at a ,high

rate of speed so that there will be little likelihood of injuring the articles; also to provide a simple and inexpensive construction for releasing the ,articles from the hopper when the latter reaches a position for discharging them; and improved means whereby when the eyes are discharged insuch position that-they cannot be received by the guides, they will be released automatically before the next operation and taken back into the hopper instead of being thrown aside; also-to provide certain improvements in the manner of operating the hopper for'this purpose and in the guides for receiving the eyes from the hopper; to provide a simple and automatic means whereby when the articles are collected in great numbers on continuous guides, the surplus will be automatically discharged therefrom so as not to clog up the machine.

Another object of the invention is to provide details of construction which will appear hereinafter, v Reference is to be had to the accompany ing drawings in-which, 1

Figure l is a side elevation of a practicable embodiment of theinvention. Fig. 2is

a transverse sectional .view of the same, and

Fig. 3 is an end view on a reduced scale showing additional featureslof the invention. I I

The invention is. illustrated as embodying Specification of Letters Patent. Application filed January 18, 1909. Serial No. 472,841.

Patented May 5, 19.14.

a frame 10 on which is located a ower shaft 11 provided with a driving pul ey '12.- On this shaft is an eccentric 13, the eccentric rod 14: of which is connected with an arm 15 fixed to a shaft 16 by means of a bolt 17 or other construction allowing of adjustment. The eccentric then oscillates the shaft, On the shaft 16 is fixed a hopper 18 for receiv ing the eyes or other articles in bulk. This hopper is provided with end walls '19 and is. 5 shown as open at'the top so that the articles can be-shoveledinto it in an indiscriminate manner. On the end of the shaft. 16 isshown a hand-wheel 21 by which the shaft can be operated independently of the power, 7o lfthe connections between-it and the eccen- I tric are removed or the bolt or screw 17 loosened so that the device can be manipu lated 1n any desired way.

The bottom 25 of-the hopper. is formed in 7.5

of pivots 26 so that it is capable of s'wing- 8o ing. The top surface of this bottom maybe flat if desired but it is shown as slightly inclined from the center toward its ends.

Below the. opposite end walls of the ho per are two or more passages 27, the heig t of which is controlled by the posit-ion 'ofthe .bottom. .These passages are shown as formed by spaces between integral projections 270 extendin up under the .wallsof the hopper from t e edges of the bottom. They are designed and proportioned forthe discharge of the articles to be fed by the hopper and the device preferably is so constructed that as .the hopper tilts into one ex? treme position, as shown in Fig. 2, to discharge eyes through one of the passages'or sets of passages 27, the bottom will be moved 4 toward the lowermost wall so that these. .passages willbe smallest when in that position. As that part of the hopper swings loo upwardly, the bottom is intended to turn on its pivot so that the passages on that side will gradually increase in size so that any articles that are wedged into them will be released and slide back into the. hopper as they can from the left-hand passages 27 in thefposition shown in Fig. 2. For this pur-. pose the lower side of the bottom 25 is shown as provided with a projection28 havinga slot therein into which projects a spring 29. The bottom of this spring is shown as held in fixed position on the frame and it obviously acts automatically to decrease the opening through the lower passage or passages 27 as the hopper swings and simultaneously increase the distance be tween the top of the upper passages 27 and the bottom to release articles held therein.

In connection with the hopper a series of guides preferably are used, shown in the present instance as comprising guides or sets of guides 30 and 31, one set of guides being adapted to receive articles from each set of passages 27. These guides extend upwardly to a position at about the level of the shaft 16 and extend down below the bottom of the hopper. The guide 31 terminates at a point a little above the guide 30 so as to permit articles to be fed down the latter and yet permit them to be discharged .from the guide 31 on the guide 30.

For the purpose of keeping the articles in position, a guard 32 is employed at the junction between each two guides serving to This guard is s keep the articles from rebounding when they drop from the uide 31 onto the guide 30. gown as held by a cross-bar on the frame.

The guide 30 is shown as having a movable section 33v pivoted at its upper end near the lower end of the stationary part of the guide 30 on a cross bar so that'the lower end of the movable section is adapted to swing into the dotted line position in Fig.

2. A spring 34 is employed to normally hold this section up in alinement with the guide 30 and with thelower inclined guide 35. This spring is adjusted by a screw 36 for obvious purposes. The inclined guide 35 extends down and feeds the articles to any desired mechanism or maybe provided with a movable stop 37 on the bottom. In either case it will be obvious that some times the eyes or articles might not feed away from the guide as fast as desired and that the guide 35 might get fulllof them so that they would pile up on the movable section 33. The spring 34.- is designed and adjusted so as to have suflicient resistance to hold a small number of articles upon the section 33 Y but so that when they, pileup thereon their weight will overcome the resistance of the spring 34 and cause this section to move down into dotted line position against an adjustable stop 39 supported by a crossbar on the frame. This dis harges the surplus articles from the guide andthe spring immediately returns the section 33 to position so that acontinuous guide is provided and yet when the inclined guide gets too full; the surplus articles will automatically be discharged.

Although most of this description is made with reference toa single guide 30 and 31, it is to be understood that a plurality of them preferably are employed as shown in Fig. 1.

While I have illustrated and described a preferred embodiment of the invention, I am aware that many modifications can be made therein by any person skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the invention as expressed in the claims. Therefore, I do not wish to be limited to all the details of construction shown, but

What I do claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is,

1. In a machine of the character described,

the combination of a hopper adapted to receive articles, said hopper having an end wall and a passage under it through which the articles can be discharged, means for moving said hopper so as to lower said passage, and means for decreasing the size of said passage during the last motion of the hopper.

2. As an article of manufacture, a hopper movable bodily to and from a certain position and having a wall and a passage below said wall through which articles are discharged as the hopper approaches said position, and having means for reducing the size of said passage during the last part of the motion of the hopper as it moves to said position.

3. As an article of manufacture, a hopper adapted to receive articles in bulk and part of such provided with openings oppositely disposed through which said articles can be discharged, and having means for alternately decreasing said openings in size just before the articles are discharged therefrom.

4. In a machine of the character described, the combination of a hopper adapted to receive articles-in bulk and having oppositely disposed discharge openings, means whereby each of said openings is alternately moved to the lowermost position, and means whereby each opening is decreased in size as it approaches the lowermost position.

5. In a machine of the character described, the combination of a hopper having a bottom and provided with openings at opposite edges of said bottom, means for tilting said hopper into' two positions in each of which the bottom will be inclined downwardly toward one of said openings, and means for simultaneously moving said bottom with respect to the rest of the hopper so as to reduce the size of the latter opening.

6. In a device of the character described, the combination of an oscillatory hopper having means whereby articles may be dishaving means whereby articles may be discharged therefrom,a bottom' therefor movable with the hopper and also movable relatively to the hopper, means for moving the hopper so as to bring. the bottom into in clined position, and means constructed and adapted to be set into operation by the moan inclined position, and means for simultaneeusly shifting the bottom relativelyto the hopper. ,f"-"

9. In a device of the characterdescribed, the combinationof a hopper for receiving articles, in bulk, a bottom therefor having a space between its opposite edges and the wall of the hopper through which the articles can be discharged, said bottom being pivotally mounted on the hopper, and means for swinging said bottom on its pivot to increase the height of onespace and decrease that of the other.

1O.v In adevice of the character described, the combination of a hopper, means for oscillating said hopper on an axis, a bottom movably mounted on the hopper and extending from one end to the other, said hopper being provided with a wall and with a space between the wall and bottom, and means for automatically moving said. bottom to-change the height of said space when the hopper is oscillated.

11. In a device of the character described, the combination of a hopper, means for oscillating said hopper-on an axis, a bottom movably'mounted on the hopper, said hopper being provided with a wall and with a space between the wall and bottom, and a spring, having one end fixed and the other end engaging said bottom, for automatically moving said bottom to change the height of said space when the hopper is oscillated.

12. A hopper for the purpose described having walls and a movable bottom therefor provided with integral projections on its edges under the walls of the hopper and spaced apart to form discharge openings.

guard located above the .said guides.

13. In a device of the-character described, the combination of a shaft, a hopper for receiving articles in bulk fixed thereon, means for oscillating said shaft, said hopper having means for discharging articles from its oppositesides, a pair of guides in position for receiving articles directly from the opposite' sides of the hopper while being discharged, each of said guides extending upwardly from a point below the hopper to a point above thebottomof the hopper, where,-

by articles discharged from they hopper in position for being received by the guides will be conducted away from the hopper and articles projecting into contact with the guides and not in position to be received thereby will move back into the hopper as it oscillates.

'14. In a machine of, the character described, the combination of a hopper adapted to discharge articles from opposite sides thereof, guides extending downwardly from a position adjacent to the opposite sides of the hopper, one of said guides terminating in a position just above the other, and a point-of junction of 15. In a device ofthe character described, the combination of an inclined guide for feeding eyes and similar articles having a movable section therein, a spring for nor-' mally holding said section in alinement with the rest of the guide and adapted to yield when said section is weighted With articles to permit the section to drop back and allow the articles to be discharged therefrom.

16. In a device of the character described, the combination of an inclined guide for feeding articles by gravity, a section pivot- WALTER L CURTIS.

Witnesses: 7

ALBERT E. FAY C. FORREST WESSON.

(guide, means for adjusting the 

